THIS WEEKEND
A pair of new films injected $55M into the box office as The
Haunting and Inspector
Gadget, neither of which was a favorite
with critics, generated solid openings. For the seventh consecutive weekend,
a freshman movie debuted at number one making The
Phantom Menace the last title to repeat
at the top spot. Meanwhile, Eyes Wide Shut
was blinded by the competiton and milestones
were achieved by Wild Wild West
($100M), Tarzan
($150M), and Star Wars Episode I ($400M).

Moviegoers were looking
to be scared this weekend as North American audiences spent $33.4M, according
to final
figures, on director Jan De Bont's The
Haunting which easily claimed the number
one spot. The suspense thriller stars Liam Neeson, fresh from his heroic
turn in The Phantom Menace,
and Catherine Zeta-Jones whose starpower has been boiling with The
Mask of Zorro and Entrapment.
Opening in 2,808 haunted houses, the $80M DreamWorks pic averaged a fantastic
$11,907 per theater and broke the company's opening weekend record set
exactly one year ago when Steven Spielberg's Saving
Private Ryan launched with $30.6M.

DreamWorks distribution
president Jim Tharp noted that the audience was comprised largely of young
men and women under 25 and that the powerful opening surpassed the studio's
pre-release expectations. The Haunting
saw only a modest increase in sales on Saturday compared to Friday which
may indicate that word-of-mouth may not be that strong. Still, the $33.4M
launch was surprisingly potent and could lead to a respectable worldwide
gross.

With his bionic legs,
Disney's Inspector Gadget
was able to secure a superb opening capturing $21.9M over the Friday-to-Sunday
period. Fighting crime in 2,814 theaters, the live-action remake of the
1980s cartoon series averaged a stellar $7,779 per precinct. Starring Matthew
Broderick as the bumbling detective, Inspector
Gadget performed better than Disney's
last two July live-action remakes - 1997's George
of the Jungle and last year's The
Parent Trap - which had Friday-to-Sunday
debuts of $16.1M and $11.1M respectively. According to Buena Vista distribution
chief Chuck Viane, Inspector Gadget
is reaching a broad audience as moviegoers between the ages of 12 and 17
accounted for 15% of the opening weekend audience while evening showings
are attracting huge crowds.

Enjoying the lowest
decline in the top ten, the teen sex comedy American
Pie eased just 25% to third with $10.1M
in its third weekend. Universal's low-cost hit has now raked in a stupendous
$64.5M in only 17 days and looks destined to join the $100M club next month
making it the first teen pic to reach that mark since the Scream
flicks.

After debuting at number
one last weekend, Stanley Kubrick's final film Eyes
Wide Shut got clobbered in its second
try with moviegoers tumbling 54% to $10.1M. Starring Tom Cruise and Nicole
Kidman, the erotic drama raised its ten-day tally to $40.3M. It was unclear
after its opening whether or not the Warner Bros. film would have legs
at the box office but its steep decline this weekend indicates that ticket
buyers are not encouraging others to go and see the movie. Kubrick has
always been known to make films that are not for mass consumption but instead
for those with discriminating tastes thus narrowing their commercial appeal.
If it continues to lose business like this, Eyes
Wide Shut may find its way to a final
domestic gross of $60-70M giving Cruise his lowest-grossing film since
the last collaboration with his wife, 1992's Far
and Away, and will put an end to his record
streak of five consecutive $100M blockbusters.

Adam Sandler placed
fifth with the hit comedy Big Daddy
which grossed $6M allowing its blockbuster cume to rise to $146M. Fox's
horror entry Lake Placid
lost about half of its audience in its sophomore session as it collected
$5.6M taking sixth place. Biting down on $21.4M in ten days, the crocodile
pic should conclude with $30-35M.

Crumbling 47% in its
fourth shootout, Wild Wild West
took in $5.3M and hit the $100M on Friday, its 24th day of release. With
$104.1M in sales so far, the costly Warner Bros. event pic should top out
at around $115-120M. Disney's Tarzan
followed in eighth with $4.9M pushing its muscular summer total to $152.5M
thus far. Omar Epps and Taye Diggs saw their flashback comedy The
Wood drop 43% to ninth with $4.8M. With
$16.4M in ten days, the Paramount release should end up with about $30-35M.

Rounding out the top
ten was the year's biggest blockbuster, Star
Wars Episode I, with $4.2M in its tenth
weekend. The long-awaited prequel crossed the $400M mark on Saturday, its
67th day of release and finished the frame with $402.8M. By comparison,
the all-time box office champ Titanic
had grossed a similar $402.6M by the end of its tenth weekend but was only
two-thirds completed with what would be a spectacular theatrical run. James
Cameron's Oscar magnet reached the $400M level in 66 days - a day faster
than Anakin and pals. The Phantom Menace
also surpassed E.T.
to claim the number three spot on the all-time blockbuster list behind
the ship of dreams and the original Star
Wars which grossed $461M including all
rereleases. Episode I
continues to suffer moderate declines of about 25-30% each week and looks
capable of concluding its domestic run in the vicinity of $425M.

New Line's satirical
comedy Drop Dead Gorgeous
about battling beauty contest competitors in Minnesota attracted a small
audience and grossed $4M. Opening in the number eleven spot in 1,207 theaters,
the Denise Richards-Kirsten Dunst starrer averaged just $3,303 per runway.

Paramount's murder
mystery The General's Daughter
collected $3.8M pushing its cume to an impressive $94.1M. The John Travolta
hit should eventually become the fourth $100M blockbuster for the actor
this decade and the seventh of his career.

The Blair Witch
Project once again was selling out shows
in selected cities as the Artisan release grossed a brilliant $2M in only
31 theaters. That gave the horror pic a scorching average of $63,812 per
theater which improved upon the $56,002 average it achieved last weekend
in four less locations. Movies simply don't make this kind of money in
so few theaters but The Blair Witch Project
has been riding an unbelievable wave of buzz that has positioned it as
the must-see underground film of the summer. On Friday, Artisan unleashes
the film in about 1,000 theaters nationwide hoping to scare the living
daylights out of horror fans and box office analysts alike.

Take this week's NEW
Reader Survey on the upcoming August releases.
In last week's survey, readers were asked how Star
Wars Episode I has performed at the box
office compared to their expectations. Of 3,162 responses, 26% chose Better
Than Expected, 53% said As Expected, and 21% selected Worse Than Expected.

The top ten films over
the weekend grossed $106.3M which was down 4% from last year when Saving
Private Ryan opened at number one with
$30.6M, but up 5% from 1997 when Air Force
One premiered on top with $37.1M.

Be sure to check back
on Thursday for a complete summary, including projections, for next
weekend when Runaway Bride
and Deep Blue Sea
debut and The Blair Witch Project
expands into national release.

This column is updated three times each week
: Thursday (upcoming weekend's summary),
Sunday (post-weekend analysis with
estimates), and Monday night (actuals).
Source : EDI, Exhibitor Relations. Opinions expressed in this column are
those solely of the author.